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DesignofExperimentsReducesRubberScrapby90%

MarkJ.Anderson
StatEase,Inc.

Executivesummary
Powerfulinteractionsaffecttheperformanceofmanyrubberandplasticsprocesses.
Unfortunately,thesecriticaleffectscannotberevealedbythetraditionalscientific
method,whichdictateschangingonefactoratatime(OFAT).Thiscasestudy
providesinspirationtoovercomethelimitationsofOFATviaaverysimpledesignof
experiment(DOE)calledatwolevelfactorial.1Byemployingamultifactor
approachthetechnicalstaffatacustomrubbermolderuncoveredacombinationof
materialselectionandmanufacturingprotocolthatcreatedunacceptableresults.
Armedwiththisprocessknowledge,theyachievedabreakthroughquality
improvements.
RobinsonRubberProductsCompany,aMinnesotabasedcustommolder,designs
andmanufacturescomponentsfororiginalequipmentmanufacturers.They
specializeincomplexpartssuchasoneinvolvinganinnerandoutersteelsleeve
withmoldedrubberbondedinbetween.Thisparticularcomponenthadtomeet
verytoughrequirementsforanautomotiveapplication,thusitexperiencedan
intermittentscraprateofupto10%.Themostcommonproblemwasthatthepart
didnotpassthecompanystoughmetaltorubberbondingtest,whichrequiresthat
therubbertearsapartratherthanpullingawayfromthemetal.
Overtheyears,Robinsonmademanyonefactoratatime(OFAT)changestothe
processbuttheproblemcontinuedtoreoccur.FinallytheirQualityAssurance(QA)
Manager,JohnEngler,performedastatisticallydesigned,multifactorexperiment
thatmodeledtheeffectsoffivekeymanufacturingvariables.Thisledto
significantlybettersettingsthatoptimizedtherubbertometalbond,resultingin
scrapratesthatconsistentlyfellbelow1%,withnorecurrenceofbondproblems.
Toughrubbertometalbondingproblem
Theproblematicpart,similartothatpicturedinFigure1,usestwocoatsofa
bondingagentappliedtoeachofthemetalinserts.Theinsertsarehandloadedinto
a16cavitymold,therubberisinjected,andthepartsdwellinthemoldfora
specifiedtime,temperatureandpressure.Toverifythebonding,operators
periodicallyperformadestructivetestonproductbypushingtheinnersteelinsert
outofanassemblyandvisuallycheckingtherubbertometalbond.

Figure1:Problematicrubbertometalbonding(afterdestructivepeelback)
Robinsonperiodicallyexperiencedalargenumberofrejectsbecauseofbondfailure.
Engineersandoperatorsexpresseddifferingopinionsontheproblemachievinga
consensuswasnearlyimpossibleduetosomanyvariablesandpotential
interactions.Theinjectionspeed,injectionpressure,vulcanizingtemperature,and
dwelltimeoftheinjectionmoldingmachinecaneasilybeadjusted.Thethicknessof
thebondingagentandamountoftimeitisallowedtodryareotherimportant
variables.Processchangeswouldbemadeontheflyuntiltheproblemwentaway,
Englersaid.Thenafteraperiodoftimetheproblemwouldreappearandthetrial
anderrorprocesswouldstartallover.Whenthishappenedthreetimesinonlytwo
weeks,weknewthatweneededtofindanewmethodtofindtherootcauseofthe
problem.
AmajorproblemwiththeOFATmethodisthatitcannotdetecttheinteractionsof
multiplefactors.Byvaryinganindividualvariableyoucanfindtheoptimalvalueof
eachonewithalltheothersheldconstant.However,whenyoucombinethe
supposedlyoptimizedvaluesofeachvariabletheresultsareusuallyfarlessthan
optimal,oftenbecauseofthewaysthattheyinteractwitheachother.
Designofexperimentsuncoversinteractionofvariables
Mypastexperiencewithsimilarproblemssuggestedtomethattheonlywayto
reallyunderstandwhatwashappeningwastoperformadesignedexperimentto
findthecriticalfactorsthatarerequiredtoachievearobustrubbertometalbond,
Englersaid.DOEprovidesabetterapproachthatvariesthevaluesofallvariables
inparallelsoituncoversnotjustthemaineffectsofeachvariablebutalsothe
interactionsbetweenthevariables.Thisapproachmakesitpossibletoidentifythe
optimalvaluesforallvariablesincombinationandalsorequiresfarfewer
experimentalrunsthantheOFATapproach.
Experimentaldesignsareavailablewithaslittleask+1runswherekequalsthe
numberofvariablestobetested,forexample:7factorsin8runs.Butmoreaccurate
resultscanbeachievedbyhigherresolutiondesignswhicharecapableofevaluating
themaineffectsofeachvariableaswellasthetwofactorinteractions.1,2For
example,16runssufficeforahighresolutiondesignon5factorsonlyhalfofthe
32combinationsofallthesefactorsattwolevelseach.
AfterabrieftrainingsessiononDOE,theRobinsonRubbertechnicalstaffworked
togethertoselectthefactorsthattheythoughtwerethemostlikelytocausethe
bondproblems.Englerwaschosentocoordinateandmonitoreachstepofthe
experiment.
Experimentaldesign
Thefivefactorsthatwereselectedwere:
A. Vulcanizingtemperature(lowversushigh),
B. Bondmaterial(twotypes),
C. Bondapplicationthickness(onevstwocoats),
D. Injectionpressure(lowvshigh),
E. Bondsettlingtime(lowvshigh).
Withthisinformationentered,aspecializedDOEprogram3generatedanidealtwo
leveldesignwith16runsahighresolutionhalffractionofallpossible
combinations.Table1providesthetestmatrixastandardtemplatethatworksfor
any5factorsattwolevelseach.
Table1:Twolevelfactorialtestmatrix(halffraction)
Std A: B: C: D: E:
Order Cure Bond Bond Inject Settling
Temp Material Coats Pressure time
degC psi minutes
1 295 A 1 1000 120
2 325 A 1 1000 1
3 295 B 1 1000 1
4 325 B 1 1000 120
5 295 A 2 1000 1
6 325 A 2 1000 120
7 295 B 2 1000 120
8 325 B 2 1000 1
9 295 A 1 3000 1
10 325 A 1 3000 120
11 295 B 1 3000 120
12 325 B 1 3000 1
13 295 A 2 3000 120
14 325 A 2 3000 1
15 295 B 2 3000 1
16 325 B 2 3000 120
Robinsonrantheexperimentonthefirstshiftovertwodays.Thedesignblocked
outthedaybydayimpact.Itincludedanadditionalsixcuresatthebeginning,
middleandendofeachdaywiththesameconditionstoserveascontrolstodetect
theeffectofanyvariablesbesidesthosethatwerebeingmeasuredinthe
experiment.Theorderofthecureswasrandomizedasinsuranceagainstlurking
variablessuchasmachinewear.SlightmodificationsbyEnglerwereintroducedto
simplifythetemperaturechanges.EverycurewasmonitoredinpersonbyEnglerto
ensurethatallthefactorswerecorrectforeachcure.
Theprimarymeasuresofperformancewere:
1. Bondtheamountofrubberbondcoverageremainingonthesteelsleeve
measuredonascaleof1to10with1beingalmostnobondand10being
90%to100%bondremaining.Aratingof8orbetterwasconsideredtobe
anacceptablebondinaccordancewiththedrawingspecification.
2. Curethecompletenessofthecurewasratedona1to5scalewith1beinga
verylowstateofcureand5beingcompletelycured.Aratingof3orbetter
wasconsideredacceptable.
Optimizingthevaluesofeachvariable
EnglerandhisQAtechnicianTomSomersratedthepartstogether.Theythen
calculatedthefractiondefectforbondandcureandenteredthisdataintothe
software,whichthengeneratedreportsthatidentifiedthesignificantfactorsfor
thesetwocriticalresponses.Theresultsshowedthatwithinthetestedranges
neitherthebondsettlingnortheinjectionpressurecreatedanyappreciableeffect
onperformanceofthepart.Thateliminatedtwosuspectedvariables.However,
highertemperature,factorA,providedasignificantimprovementitcreatedamain
effectoncurefailure.Thisisgraphicallyillustratedbyanorderedbarchart(see
Figure2),commonlyknownasaParetoanItalianeconomistwhoobservedthat
avitalfewindividuals,say20percent,typicallyaccountforthebulkoftheresponse,
over80percent.
A

2.40
t-Value of |Effect|

t-Value Limit 1.78229

1.60

0.80

0.00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Rank
Figure2:Paretochartforeffectsoncure
Notethatforstatisticalpurposesthisparticularchartdisplaysthetvalueofthe
effectandfeaturesathresholdbarforsignificanceat95percentconfidence.
Butwhatprovedmostinterestingisthesignificantinteractionofbondingagent
withcoatingthicknessillustratedinFigure3.Thisplotprovidesstatistical
measuringsticksknowasleastsignificantdifference(LSD)barsthataresetfor
makingcomparisonswith95percentconfidence.TheLSDsoverlapattwocoatsof
eitherbondagent,thusprovidingarobustoperatingconditionifbothmaterials
mustbeusedforpurchasingleverage.However,ifonlyonecoatcouldbeafforded,
thenonlytheB2bondingagentwouldworkreliably.TheseparationoftheLSDbars
attheleftsideoftheinteractionplotshowsasignificantincreaseinbondfailure
withonlyonecoatofB1.

0.9
Bond failure (fraction defect)

0.8

B1 Bond Agent
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
B2 Bond Agent

1.00 1.50 2.00


C: Bond thickness (coats)
Figure3:Interactionofbondagentwiththicknessofcoating
AnotherwayofspinningthisstoryisthatonlytheB2bondingagentworkedwell
eitherthinorthick(1vs2coats;respectively).Thiswouldbeimportantif
operatorsvariedinhowmuchbondtheyappliedpercoat.
Results
RobinsonRubberbeganconsistentlyproducingthepartunderusingthisrobust
bondingagentathightemperature.Thescraprateimmediatelydroppedtowell
below1%andremainedatthatlowlevelthroughoutsubsequentproductionruns.
Designofexperimentsisclearlyausefultoolthatcanhelpdeterminetherootcause
ofandsolutionfordifficultproblemsthatmightfesterforyearsotherwise,QA
ManagerEnglerconcluded.
References
1. Anderson,M.J.,Whitcomb,P.J.,BreakthroughImprovementswith
ExperimentDesign,RubberandPlasticsNews,June16,1997,pp.1415.
2. Anderson,M.J.,Whitcomb,P.J.,DOESimplifiedPracticalToolsfor
EffectiveExperimentation,2ndEdition,ProductivityPress,NewYork,NY,
2007.
3. Vaughn,N.A.,etal,DesignExpertSoftware,StatEase,Inc,Minneapolis,
MN,2007.

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